Incentives for Soil and Water Conservation on Farm in Ravines of Gujarat: Policy Implications for Future Adoption

The issue of incentives has been studied for the adoption of soil and water conservation in the ravines of Gujarat in the context of holistic development of small and marginal farms and their profitability. It is hypothesized that poor economic condition of farmers impedes their ability to make large-scale investment in conservation agriculture, in general and improvement of land, in particular. The study is based on two groups of farms- with and without conservation history. The results have substantiated the argument that under the present price scenario, farm profitability makes the marginal farms susceptible to a vicious poverty circle. The input and output prices prevailing in the region do not favour the farming enterprise. Thus, this policy variable would have little impact on farm profitability and the incentive to adopt conservation on farm. Hence, such farms need an initial dose of state help. This fact has been clearly brought out in the study area. The farms benefiting from past conservation programme of the state government have done better than those who were deprived of it. The former group of farms has been able to lease-in better piece of land and take cash crop to raise their profit level. This has positively affected their investment decisions. While land tenure has shown weak relation with decision of farm investment, farmers’ credit worthiness might play a greater role in helping adoption of conservation on farm. Thus, financial inclusion of these marginal farms could be an important incentive policy variable for adoption of conservation measures in this region.Soil and water conservation, conservation agriculture, credit worthiness, land tenure, farm investment, Gujarat ravines, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q25, Q28,

Fuzzy Closure Spaces vs. Fuzzy Rough Sets

AbstractThis paper investigates the relationship among fuzzy rough sets, fuzzy closure spaces and fuzzy topology. It is shown that there exists a bijective correspondence between the set of all fuzzy reflexive approximation spaces and the set of all quasi-discrete fuzzy closure spaces satisfying a certain extra condition. Similar correspondence is also obtained between the set of all fuzzy tolerance approximation spaces and the set of all symmetric quasi-discrete fuzzy closure spaces satisfying a certain extra condition

Fuzzy modeling for the spread of influenza virus and its possible control

In this paper, we analyze a model of Influenza spread with an asymptotic transmission rate, wherein the disease transmission rate and death rate are considered as fuzzy sets. Comparative studies of the equilibrium points of the disease for the classical and fuzzy models are performed. Using the concept of probability measure and fuzzy expected value, we obtain the fuzzy basic reproduction number for groups of infected individuals with different virus loads. Further, a basic reproduction number for the classical and the fuzzy model are compared. Finally, a program based on the basic reproduction value of disease control is suggested and the numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the analytical results

Community seed banks as seed producers: Cases from India, Nepal, Uganda and Zimbabwe

Community-based seed producers are a relatively under-researched and under-documented category of seed producers, but have the potential to cater to the diverse seed needs and interests of smallholder farmers. This working paper presents a number of such community-seed producers, with a focus on community seed banks. The case studies from India, Nepal, Uganda and Zimbabwe point to the viability of community seed banks as seed producers and distributors, but becoming successful is not easy and depends on several factors, including initial technical guidance and support, sufficient time, adherence to a seed value chain perspective and the development of a sound business plan from the very start

Primary Dendrite Distribution and Disorder During Directional Solidification of Pb-Sb Alloys

Pb-2.2 wt pct Sb and Pb-5.8 wt pet Sb alloys have been directionally solidified from a single-crystal seed with its [100] orientation parallel to the growth direction, to examine the primary dendrite distribution and disorder of the dendrite arrays. The dendrite distribution and ordering have been investigated using analysis techniques such as the Gauss-amplitude fit to the frequency distribution of nearest and higher-order spacings, minimum spanning tree (MST), Voronoi polygon, and Fourier transform (FT) of the dendrite centers. Since the arrangement of dendrites is driven by the requirement to accommodate side-branch growth along the (100) directions, the FT images of the fully developed dendrite centers contain spots which indicate this preferred alignment. A directional solidification distance of about three mushy-zone lengths is sufficient to ensure a steady-state dendritic array, in terms of reaching a constant mean primary spacing. However, local dendrite ordering continues throughout the directional solidification process. The interdendritic convection not only decreases the mean primary spacing, it also makes the dendrite array more disordered and reduces the ratio of the upper and lower spacing limits, as defined by the largest 5 pct and the smallest 5 pct of the population

The performance of a heat pipe based solar PV/T roof collector and its potential contribution in district heating applications

Photovoltaic–thermal water collectors have the ability to convert solar energy into electricity and heat, simultaneously. Furthermore, the combination of photovoltaic–thermal solar collectors with a water cooling system can increase significantly the electrical and thermal efficiencies of the system, which can improve the total thermal efficiency of buildings. In this paper, the findings of six experimental configurations of solar-thermal collectors are presented and analysed. Five of the solar-thermal panel configurations were implemented with a cooling cycle. Two of the solar-thermal panels were equipped with monocrystalline silicon modules, the other two collectors were equipped with polycrystalline silicone modules, one of the collectors was based on heat pipe technology and was equipped with a cooling system, while the last collector did not include any cooling cycle. The duration of the experiments was four days during the September of 2014 and they were conducted under different solar radiation conditions. The second part of the paper presents the simulation results for five of the solar-thermal panels connected with a cooling water tank (volume of 500 litre), a domestic hot water tank (volume 350 litre) and a water-water heat pump, in terms of covering the hot water demands of a single family dwelling. The results showed that the hybrid solar collectors would be able to cover approximately 60% of the dwelling’s hot water needs for days with low levels of solar radiation, while for days with high solar radiation they could cover the hot water requirements of the family by 100%

New polarimetric constraints on axion-like particles

We show that the parameter space of axion-like particles can be severly constrained using high-precision measurements of quasar polarisations. Robust limits are derived from the measured bounds on optical circular polarisation and from the distribution of linear polarisations of quasars. As an outlook, this technique can be improved by the observation of objects located behind clusters of galaxies, using upcoming space-borne X-ray polarimeters.Comment: Submitted to JCA

Evaluation of sesamum gum as an excipient in matrix tablets

In developing countries modern medicines are often beyond the affordability of the majority of the population. This is due to the reliance on expensive imported raw materials despite the abundance of natural resources which could provide an equivalent or even an improved function. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of sesamum gum (SG) extracted from the leaves of Sesamum radiatum (readily cultivated in sub-Saharan Africa) as a matrix former. Directly compressed matrix tablets were prepared from the extract and compared with similar matrices of HPMC (K4M) using theophylline as a model water soluble drug. The compaction, swelling, erosion and drug release from the matrices were studied in deionized water, 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2) and phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) using USP apparatus II. The data from the swelling, erosion and drug release studies were also fitted into the respective mathematical models. Results showed that the matrices underwent a combination of swelling and erosion, with the swelling action being controlled by the rate of hydration in the medium. SG also controlled the release of theophylline similar to the HPMC and therefore may have use as an alternative excipient in regions where Sesamum radiatum can be easily cultivated

All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients with initial LIGO

We present the results of a search for long-duration gravitational wave transients in two sets of data collected by the LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston detectors between November 5, 2005 and September 30, 2007, and July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010, with a total observational time of 283.0 days and 132.9 days, respectively. The search targets gravitational wave transients of duration 10-500 s in a frequency band of 40-1000 Hz, with minimal assumptions about the signal waveform, polarization, source direction, or time of occurrence. All candidate triggers were consistent with the expected background; as a result we set 90% confidence upper limits on the rate of long-duration gravitational wave transients for different types of gravitational wave signals. For signals from black hole accretion disk instabilities, we set upper limits on the source rate density between 3.4×10-5 and 9.4×10-4 Mpc-3 yr-1 at 90% confidence. These are the first results from an all-sky search for unmodeled long-duration transient gravitational waves. © 2016 American Physical Society